Town of Warwick
Selectboard
July 25, 2011
Minutes
Members present: Dawn Magi, Patricia Lemon, Nick Arguimbau
Others present: Town Coordinator David Young, Town Secretary Rosa
Fratangelo Calcari, Broadband Committee member and WiredWest
Representative Reva Reck, Jon Calcari
I. Call to Order
Chair Magi called the meeting to order at 6:02 pm in Town Hall.
Arguimbau MOVED to accept the agenda as printed. Lemon SECONDED. Motion
carried by a vote of 3-0-0.
Public Comment
None.
III. Minutes
Lemon MOVED to approve the minutes of July 11, 2011, as printed. Magi
SECONDED. Motion carried by a vote of 3-0-0.
IV. Presentations and Discussions
1. Lease -- Magi explained that the lease between the Town and the
Pioneer valley regional School District is up for renewal. Young
recommended that the Board refer this matter to the Buildings and Energy
Committee so that language can be added that will allow the Town to
accrue savings from energy conservation. The savings would then be used
to fund improvements.
Lemon MOVED to refer the lease for the Warwick Community School and the
Pioneer Valley Regional School District be referred to the Buildings and
Energy Committee. Arguimbau SECONDED. Magi MOVED to amend the motion to
insert "renewal" after "lease". Lemon ACCEPTED the Friendly Amendment.
Motion to accept the Friendly Amendment carried by a vote of 3-0-0.
Motion on amended motion carried by a vote of 3-0-0.
2. Minutes --
Lemon MOVED to accept the minutes of July 13, 2011, as printed. Magi
SECONDED. Motion carried by a vote of 3-0-0.
3. Surplus Property -- Young said that the wood piled at the Transfer
Station needs to be declared surplus property so it can be sold and
removed from the site.
Lemon MOVED the woodpile at the Transfer Station be declared surplus
property and sold. Arguimbau SECONDED. Motion carried by a vote of
3-0-0.
4. Appointments -- Young said that retired school teacher and
Northfield Road resident Miguel Torres has volunteered to join the
Cemetery Commission. He said that Jim Toth recruited Mr. Torres to fill
the vacancy until the 2012 Annual Town Election. .
Arguimbau MOVED to appoint Miguel Torres to the Cemetery Commission
until the Town Election in May, 2012. Lemon SECONDED. Motion carried by
a vote of 3-0-0.
Pruning Limbs -- Young explained that some of the trees in the Town Park
have low hanging limbs that need to be pruned, and a dying spruce tree
needs to be removed. He said that he had spoken with the Tree Warden,
who informed him that the Park Commissioners are responsible. Since
Warwick has no park Commissioner, the responsibility falls to the
Selectboard. Young said that he wanted to confer with Chuck Lisowski,
who did the landscape plan for the Town Park. Young also suggested
planting a new tree in memory of Les Goodman.
Lemon MOVED that David Young be authorized, in conjunction with Chuck
Lisowski, prune low hanging branches and to remove the dying spruce tree
on the Board's behalf. Arguimbau SECONDED. Motion carried by a vote of
3-0-0.
Young will consult with Lisowski on the selection of a new tree and
its placement in the landscape.
Magi MOVED to plant a tree on the Common and dedicate it to the memory
of Les Goodman. Lemon SECONDED. Motion carried by a vote of 3-0-0.
6. WiredWest/WiredWarwick -- Reck explained that the initial advice
given by the lawyer has been revised. The Municipal Lighting Plant (MLP)
is governed directly by the Selectboard, so the Board did not have to
appoint itself as the governing body. Reck advised that to satisfy the
WiredWest requirements, another vote needed to be taken by the Board as
part of a Selectboard meeting. Once voted upon and signed, the
Certificate of Votes to join WiredWest will be completed.
Lemon MOVED WiredWarwick join the WiredWest Communications Cooperative
Corporation (WiredWest). Magi SECONDED. Motion carried by a vote of
3-0-0.
Lemon MOVED to designate Reva Reck as Manager of the Municipal Lighting
Plant (MLP) and as its Delegate to WiredWest and designate Patricia
Lemon as Alternate Delegate to WiredWest. Arguimbau SECONDED. Motion
carried by a vote of 3-0-0.
Lemon MOVED that the Manager is hereby authorized and directed to
execute any and all documents necessary to effectuate the purposes of
these votes, and that any actions previously taken by the Manager which
are consistent with the purpose of these votes are hereby ratified and
confirmed. Arguimbau SECONDED. Motion carried by a vote of 3-0-0.
Lemon MOVED that Dawn Magi be authorized to sign the document on the
Selectboard's behalf. Arguimbau SECONDED. Motion carried by a vote of
3-0-0.
Broadband -- Three items were discussed regarding Broadband. Young said
that he had met with the Broadband Committee concerning these issues,
the first of which was installation pricing. Due to the ability to
acquire used radio equipment, Young proposed setting the installation at
the lower of cost or $500.00. He noted that the cost of installing used
equipment would run about $375.00. Young explained that in the past
installers have not been compensated for failed installations, despite
time invested in attempting to acquire a signal. Young said that he and
the Broadband Committee recommended $50.00 compensation for installers
for two hours worth of effort. He noted that approximately one in ten
installations fail.
Thirdly, the matter of setting a policy for compensating those who host
repeater sites was addressed. Repeater sites allow for the signal to
repropagate and serve additional customers. Young and the Broadband
Committee recommended setting a policy to recognize the host homes with
a reduction of $20.00 on their monthly bill.
Lemon MOVED to change the cost of installation to the lower of $500.00
or cost. Arguimbau SECONDED. Motion carried by a vote of 3-0-0.
Lemon MOVED that if an installation fails, the installer be paid $50.00
for an expected minimum of two hours of work done. Arguimbau SECONDED.
Motion carried by a vote of 3-0-0.
Lemon MOVED remuneration for hosting repeater site on subscriber's
property be set at a reduction of $20.00 on the monthly fee. Arguimbau
SECONDED. Motion carried by a vote of 3-0-0.
Young showed the large publicity check for $50,000.00. The check
represented the grant funds awarded to Warwick by the Massachusetts
Broadband Institute.
Selectboard Reports -- Lemon said that there was a hearing on July 13 in
the State Legislature on the expanded bottle bill. She had been in
contact with a State Legislative Aide who will send her the names of all
members of the committee, and said she wants to send letters to each
member urging them to pass the bill along to the next committee.
Reck mentioned upcoming pole hearings and asked that the Board be sure
that any new poles will have adequate space for fiber optics. Young said
that it should be made a requirement for all new poles installed.
Arguimbau reminded everyone of the meeting to be held on July 27 at 7 pm
in Town Hall regarding the DCR forest zoning for Warwick. He said he had
a map of the proposed zoning in a PDF file; Lemon requested that he send
that to Ed Lemon for posting on the Warwick website. Arguimbau agreed to
do so.
Magi said that she had attended two FRCOG meetings. She said that the
Personnel Committee will continue work on revisions. She recommended
that the Police and Fire Chiefs be asked if they could attend a safety
meeting on regional alarm systems to be held at 7 pm on August 18th.
Magi noted that once FRCOG moves to its new location, the furniture from
its current location will be made available to the local towns.
Magi also spoke about plans to address the creation of a regional
emergency communications center. A feasibility study was conducted, from
which four models emerged: no change; consolidate Montague and
Greenfield; create a new county-wide system that will serve all public
safety entities in Franklin County; create West county and East county
communication centers. Young noted that the current system works well
for Warwick and costs us nothing, so the longer no changes are made, the
better for us. Magi read off the costs for the current system and the
proposed new models.
9. Coordinator Report -- Young said that the Library wants to
purchase the old Ricoh copier and give their current copier to the
Police Department.
Young spoke about the work being done to honor the $2,000.00 per
year, in-kind agreement with DCR for tower access. Don Matthews has
been contracted to do roadwork, and the first day of work, nine
culverts were replaced. Young said that the road is now in better
shape and we are up to date with our agreement with DCR. He noted
that it may be necessary to restrict the road to 4-wheel-drive
vehicles.
10. New and Other Business-- Lemon wanted to put on a future agenda
prior to the next Special Town Meeting, a discussion of finances for the
250th anniversary celebration.
V. Adjournment
At 6:56 pm, Lemon MOVED to adjourn the meeting. Arguimbau SECONDED.
Motion carried by a vote of 3-0-0.
Minutes taken by Rosa Fratangelo Calcari